Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The popular governor of Katanga Moise Katumbi has been gone from Lubumbashi with his family for several days now. It is indicative of the tense pre-electoral season in the country that rumors have begun to fly. Some say he has fled the country after an assassination attempt, others say that he is fed up with a central government that takes much more from Katanga than it gives back, still others deny these rumors and say he is simply on vacation. It would obviously be a huge blow if Katumbi - the popular governor of Kabila's "home" province (his father at least was from there) - defected from President Kabila's party, but let's not speculate on that until somebody gives us a better idea of what is really happening.

In the meantime, you should definitely check out his twitterfeed @moisekatumbi - it seems to be his official twitter account, but includes a wide variety of messages, ranging from explicit support to Kabila's brother Zoe to snide criticism of the central government's corruption. Here are some schizophrenic extracts:

11 comments:

His son may have lied to me and I may be wrong but I was in Brussels last week and the first thing a friend of mine asked when we met at night for a drink in Matonge or Porte de Namure in the Ixelles area (an area known to be the home of Brussels’ Congolese community) he asked me if I heard about the death of Moïse Katumbi, we then checked the news with friends in Lubumbashi but everyone we called said the news was not true. This to say there are so many rumours on M Katumbi's whereabout or even safety. I don't think they are founded.

Interestingly, Tshisekedi continue to draw massive crowds in his international trip, recently he was welcomed by a huge crowd of Congolese living in South Africa. According to him, he is going back to the DRC from Lubumbashi where he is hoping to visit at least three major cities (Lubumbashi, Likasi and Kolwezi). The move was seen by J Kabila's sympathisers as a provocation and there were rumours that the visit will not be authorised by Katanga authorities but recently the maire of Lubumbashi confirmed that Tshisekedi can visit Katanga and that UDPS can organise his arrival.

With the highly contentious build up to the elections, this is something to watch closely because anti-Kasaï (Tshisekedi) rhetoric is already being rehearsed in some meetings held by Katanga leaders such as Gabrielle Kyungu Wakumwanza (one of the 13 MPs including Tshisekedi who signed in 1980 the letter condemning Mobutu's decision to implement the MPR as unique and State party) in the same way, Tshisekedi is now playing with the theory that says J Kabila is not a Congolese he may be a Rwandan and that 10 provinces out of 11 are ready for change except one (Katanga). So this is something to watch for in the coming few days.

I will keep an open eye on news about Moïse Katumbi and indeed Tshisekedi's trip to Katanga.

Ref # "Is it possible for someone in, say, Kinshasa, to send money via Western Union (or any other money wire service) to every major city within the DRC?"

Yes, Western Union, Soficom, Money Trans, Money gram and many other small agencies can transfer money between all major cities and big urban or rural centers. This is the case, for instance, between Kinshasa and Kisangani; Goma and Matadi mbandaka and Bukavu etc...

@ Jason -

In my first intervention, I meant to say it would be interesting to see if M. Katumbi will stay out of the province (in vacation) despite the controversy raised around E. Tshisekedi's visit! It is now clear that he is back well on time. In addition to that, G. Kyungu is out of the province at the moment he is in Kinshasa! I don't know if he wants to stay away during Tshisekedi's visit or planning something...(G. Kyungu is very allergic to E. Tshisekedi)

if it turns out that Moise Katumbi has effectively gone back to Katanga then he need to tread carefully, especially with his latest tweet. free speech does not exist in Congo; when he's criticising the new king of congo (Dan Gertler)about his latest coup, that is similar to a death wish. Good Luck Moise, let see if that will change anything

Am fascinated by recent events in Congo/Rwanda since 6 men and I are making preliminary plans to go to Goma in September for a conference of church leaders. Is such a trip "safe" or is the geopolitical situation in NE Congo too volatile to attempt such a visit for 7 days? Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thank-you.